Department of Veterans Affairs Mock Interview
Practice 30 Department of Veterans Affairs interview questions covering mission commitment, veteran-centered care, and federal service values.
Question 22 of 30
Tell me about a time you had to help your staff understand the relevance of the work they were performing.
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Kevin Downey has an extensive background in business management, recruiting, branding and marketing. He's volunteered his career coaching services at job fairs, lecturing on interview techniques and crafting winning resumes and cover letters.
This question assesses your communication skills and your leadership skills. It's important for a leader to understand the big picture as well as the direction they must steer the ship. The interviewers want to see that you are also a leader who can communicate the importance of the work their team is tasked with and make sure that all individuals understand how their specific contributions are valuable.
Kevin Downey has an extensive background in business management, recruiting, branding and marketing. He's volunteered his career coaching services at job fairs, lecturing on interview techniques and crafting winning resumes and cover letters.
Provide the situation or goal and how you communicated it to the team. Explain how impactful that communication was in driving positive results. Detail the outcome, from the quality of the work performed to the time it took to deliver, and the degree to which those results impacted the morale of the team.
Kevin Downey has an extensive background in business management, recruiting, branding and marketing. He's volunteered his career coaching services at job fairs, lecturing on interview techniques and crafting winning resumes and cover letters.
"We were in a friendly competition at work, and they separated us into several teams. I've always felt that effective communication is integral to success. To delegate work to someone without explaining to them how the quality of their work will positively impact the team is a disservice to those performing the work. They should understand the impact their work will have. Not communicating that to them reflects poorly on the leadership. So, with this friendly competition, I explained the ins and outs of every piece of the puzzle to the team. I ensured everyone was on the same page. This way, when one person didn't understand or felt uncomfortable asking for clarification during the meeting, they turned to another member of the team to get a helping hand. When every member of the team is in a support network, how to achieve big-picture goals is clearer, and you have a greater chance of hitting the mark. I was the only team leader who took that approach and we won the competition."
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Anonymous Answer
Assisted in training 2 new social workers. We discussed the importance of discharge planning and seeing the BIG picture prior to DC and anticipating discharge needs.
Jaymie's Feedback
Good example! The interviewer wants to know that you can help your staff understand the "why" behind certain things, so your response should focus on the skills needed to do so effectively (i.e., communication, emotional intelligence, interpersonal skills, coaching, etc.). Be sure to include those aspects in your response to highlight your skills.
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